What a crazy year it’s been so far! If you’ve felt like you’re on an emotional roller coaster—one you don’t actually remember agreeing to board—you’re not alone. And if you’ve found that stress is bleeding into the rest of your life, including your job search, well you’re not alone there, either.
How can you keep a grasp on your sanity in crazy times and still look for a job?
As you might guess, this starts with self-care. I know, it’s the last thing you want to hear, but it really is at the heart of everything. That’s because you need energy and brain power and motivation to keep up your job search, and those things all stem from the basics: enough sleep, healthy energy from food, the ability to cope with stressors. This all means that in times that feel very volatile, we still need to carve out times to exercise, prepare meals, enjoy time with friends and family. We need to go to sleep and wake up on a regular schedule. We need to find small ways to incorporate mindfulness in our daily tasks. For me, this means putting things on my calendar. For you, it might simply be choosing a schedule that works or coming up with a rotation of tasks. Experiment to see what works for you.
Another way to deal with everything is to lean into the things that bring you job and energy while minimizing the time you spend on things that keep you up at night. I spent a solid week early this month avoiding the news and even the late-night talk show discussions of events because I found myself lying in bed and ruminating. So instead, I started watching videos from the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and spending time on the UPS Dogs Facebook page. Instead of the evening news, I’d watch a video or read a book. I went to the back yard frequently to spray the Japanese beetles with soapy water. (The bugs do add stress to my life but at least I can kill them easily and ecologically.) After a few days, my personal stress-o-meter returned to normal so I could resume my regular routine, but how long that takes is, of course, very individual.
Finally, you can keep track of your successes with your search. These may be small for a while—the market really is tough right now. So count things like finding a new job board (my latest, shared with me by a client, is 80,000 Hours), finding an interesting connection, submitting an application you feel excited about.
